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23 Sport AIR FORCE May 1, 2008 By SQNLDR Phil Wade IT WAS a case of 'Feat Accompli' for members of the School of Air Warfare (SAW) at RAAF Base East Sale with their fundraising efforts in the recent 14.14km 'Run for the Kids' event in Melbourne. The SAW running team, appropriately named 'SAW Feat', was made up of staff and students and included the CO, WGCDR Jake Campbell. "The 'Run for the Kids' event is a fantastic oppor- tunity for SAW to make a contribution to a wonder- ful cause, while having some fun at the same time," WGCDR Campbell said. The annual event raises money for the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal. The total amount raised this year was $738,941, with SAW con- tributing $804.50.The fastest SAW Feat team member was PLTOFF Kyle Newman (RNZAF) who completed the course in 1hr and 7sec. "The run was quite challenging with the number of people on the course, but it was good fun and the views around Melbourne were spectacular," PLTOFF Newman said after the event. Our SAW feat By FLGOFF Eamon Hamilton A SWIFT trip up the Hawkes- bury River by members of No. 3 Combat Support Hospital (3CSH) has benefited Telstra Child Flight. Exercise 'Swift Platypus II' involved 10 members of 3CSH canoeing the 120-kilometre dis- tance from Windsor, near RAAF Base Richmond, down-river to Brooklyn Bridge. Conducted from March 31 to April 3, the trip was an adventure training exercise for personnel at the hospital and raised more than $1000 for Telstra Child Flight. 3CSH CO WGCDR Heidi Yeats said her personnel often operated in a similar line of work to Child Flight, which operates a dedicated emergency helicop- ter transport service for children requiring intensive care treatment. "Our personnel have often been called upon to support aero- medical evacuations, as RAAF Base Richmond is the Air Force's centre of air lift operations," WGCDR Yeats said. "These tasks are on a much dif- ferent scale to the work conducted by Telstra Child Flight, and have had us support relief operations in Aceh, Bali and Timor-Leste. "The hospital has been sup- portive in raising money for Child Flight over the last few weeks with a charity breakfast and the selling of chocolates, and we were looking to raise money through selling Child Flight items during this trip," WGCDR Yeats said. CPL Katrina Liston, a medi- cal assistant who was one of the members of 3CSH on the trip, said the aero-medical evacuation work conducted by Child Flight was close to heart for the hospital. "Telstra Child Flight has only been operating since 1989, and each of their missions requires a lot of money to support them. They were more than happy to come on board when we told them about our trip." CPL Liston said it had been Platypus paddle more than 10 years since the last 'Swift Platypus', with a high operational tempo and frequent deployments putting a hold on such adventure training trips in recent years. Personal commitments also limited the number who could attend 'Swift Platypus II.' "We had some of the fittest people within the unit participat- ing, but we still had to maintain the numbers at the hospital during the week," CPL Liston said. "We had to set out on the trip with less [personnel] -- but a lot more would have come if they had the opportunity." The team initially intended to paddle the 135-kilometre distance to Newport, but ended the trip a day early due to increasingly choppy conditions. The canoeists managed to average a distance of 30 kilome- tres per day, with 38 kilometres knocked over on one day. "If you couldn't steer the boat, the 30 kilometres a day quickly became 60 kilometres because you'd spend it zig-zagging," CPL Liston said. "We had to be aware of the tides -- if we were going with the tide, then the paddling was just great. "The same again went for the wind -- if we were paddling into the wind, then the trip was just hell." The paddling commenced at 6.30am each day, with the canoes entering a still river with a glass- like surface. "The scenery was absolutely breathtaking," CPL Liston said. RIVER RUN: Above and below left, medical personnel from 3CSH at RAAF Base Richmond who canoed the Hawkesbury River to support Telstra Child Flight, as part of adventure training exercise 'Swift Platypus II'. Above photo by SGT Greg O'Neill COOL RUNNINGS: Above, members of the 'SAW Feat' team from RAAF Base East Sale. Photo by CPL Col Dadd